Button Box with Fergie MacDonald MBE & Robert Nairn: 10 July 2023

In July 2023 we welcome back two of the finest box players in Scotland (if not the world!). On this course you will spend five days in the company of legendary players Fergie MacDonald MBE and west coast talent Robert Nairn. The only course of its kind, we welcome players of different experiences and all abilities. All we ask is that you should be able to play a couple of tunes on either the button box or piano accordion.

Again, we are delighted to welcome back Robert Nairn and Fergie MacDonald as the week’s button box tutors. Both men hail from Moidart in the West Highlands of Scotland and are acclaimed dance band leaders.

Players will learn tunes and techniques from Robert, with additional instruction and advice for all from Fergie regarding different playing styles, particularly the West Coast style for which Fergie is famous. There will also be the opportunity to have one-to-one instruction with the master himself.

This is a chance for everyone to play together, to learn from each other, and to hear three of Scotland’s finest box players in a special week of music at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, with Addie Harper Jnr teaching on our Piano Accordion course.

About Fergie and Robert

Robert Nairn grew up listening to Fergie playing the box, but also received instruction from an early age in the piano accordion from renowned Lochaber accordionist Dougie Hunter. At a later date he received tuition from Meantime box player Calum (Malky) Munro and fell in love with the button box, which is his main instrument of choice now.  As well as playing with many other groups, Robert has gone on to form his own dance band and can be heard regularly at wedding dances, hotels, bars and ceilidhs throughout Scotland and beyond. He has also made regular appearances on TV programmes, as well as Robbie Shepherd’s famous BBC Scotland radio show, “Take the Floor.”

Fergie MacDonald MBE needs little introduction and has long been a star of the Scottish traditional music scene; an inspiration to generations of Lochaber, and indeed Highland, musicians and beyond.  This master of his art has also achieved success in the regular music charts, scoring a number one hit during the time of such bands as the Beatles!  A man of many, many talents and stories, this is a unique opportunity to come and learn from a legend who has done it all!